Kirk Leeds Chief Executive Officer, Iowa Soybean Association kleeds@iasoybeans.com, Twitter@kirkleeds
The Road to Abilene
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n 1974, management expert Jerry Harvey, wrote an article titled, “The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement.” In the piece, Harvey shares a story about a man and his wife playing dominoes with the wife’s father and mother. It’s a very hot day in Coleman, Texas. As the four continue to play the game on the front porch, the mother-in-law asks about evening meal plans. The father-in-law responds that perhaps they should take the car (with no air conditioning) to Abilene for supper, which is an hour’s drive away. Not wanting to disagree with the patriarch of the family, Mom, daughter and son-in-law all respond in agreement. They proceed to drive an hour to Abilene with the windows down on hot and dusty roads. Then they suffer through a very disappointing meal at a local diner in Abilene. The family gets back in the car and takes that same hot, hourlong, return trip to Coleman. Back at home, one of them sarcastically says, “It was a great trip, wasn’t it?” Mom responds that she would have rather stayed home but only agreed because it's
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what she thought the rest of the group wanted. Dad shared he only suggested it because he thought the others were getting bored on the porch. Daughter and son-in-law said they only agreed because they didn’t want to disagree with Dad or Mom. Long story short, nobody really wanted to go to Abilene, but they were afraid to disagree with the others in the group. Social psychologists explain this type of behavior with theories of “social conformity” and “social influence.” Doing what the rest of the group wants to do just to get going becomes a higher priority than suggesting an alternative solution. I was reminded of the Abilene Paradox during an Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) all-staff retreat earlier this fall. As a team, we worked through exercises and had discussions about this paradox. We talked about how it could impact the quality of decisions being made in group settings. More importantly, how could we make sure we didn’t end up finding ourselves on “the road to Abilene?” Lessons from the Abilene Paradox are also important for the
farmer directors of ISA as they begin a deep-dive into the current mix of projects and programs the association funds and supports using checkoff dollars and other non-checkoff resources. The global soybean market has changed dramatically over the last year. It's important the ISA board understands these changes as they consider and write a new strategic plan for the organization. Although I have rarely found an Iowa farmer unwilling to share his or her perspective on topics related to agriculture in one-on-one conversations, I have witnessed these same farmers being much less willing to do so when confronted by farmer friends who might have different perspectives. Let’s be honest, most farmers don’t want to be disagreeable with other farmers. But I would also suggest the Abilene Paradox is not just a “farmer thing.” Going along to get along is a challenge in many group dynamics, and the net result can be a decision that leads the group to take a trip on “the road to Abilene.”
